Cursed in College
by Something Maybe Vaguely Witty
Summary: Percy and Annabeth are going on one last nostalgic vacation before they begin college in New Rome. Unfortunately for them, nothing ever seems to go as planned, as they soon discover that the someone is intervening a bit too intimately within their personal lives. Some smut, eventual!harem, percabeth, and a bit of figuring stuff out. First time fanficing, reviews are appreciated!


**So I decided to take a crack at writing for once, after reading a lot of the material on here. I was mostly inspired by **_**Path of Conquest**_**, although I got an idea for a slightly different take on the whole situation. I wanted to write something a bit more, not per say realistic, but something that doesn't immediately hop into the whole harem situation. Or really immediately hop into the situation described in the title at all. More of a slow burn I suppose. AU after Blood of Olympus, so Trials of Apollo isn't happening, mostly because I haven't read any of it and that's more effort than I am willing to put into this at the moment. Lemons will be present, but I have no idea how good I am at those (probably not at all), so instead there will probably be a bit more "slice of life" stuff I guess (if that's what its called) and character interactions. Also, I'm going to be writing from first person like Riordan does, and I will possibly be switching character POVs at points. Maybe. Also I know my grammar isn't perfect, but my English teacher definitely won't be reading this. Well probably. First crack at this, lets see how it goes.**

Has anyone ever told you how boring driving through Kansas is? Seeing nothing but rolling, endless fields of wheat, corn, and other crops that I would have had to pay more attention to what Annabeth was talking about to know. Not that it's her fault, of course. She was doing her best to keep Kansas interesting, given the fact that this marked just about past our halfway point on this drive. But there is only so much that she could do, given the fact that the Plains of Asphodel themselves were modeled upon this pantheon-forsaken place.

"Hey Percy, are you alright?", my wise-girl asked softly. "You look really tense, do you need me to take the wheel for a while?"

I paused, taking a moment to realize that I was gripping the wheel as an action star does in a car chase. I breathed in a long, deep breath, pausing for half of a second, and letting out the tension that gripped the steering wheel of the Prius.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little anxious I guess. It's been a long road from New York." At this rate, I had been driving for 6 hours or so now, ever since we left Saint Louis. We even took a trip back up the arch, this time mother-of-all-monsters free. Not to say that the arch was stress-free, the memory of being flung from a few dozen stories up while on fire was not a pleasant one, but given everything that has happened it really isn't too bad of one. In contrast to Atlas, Kronos, Hera, Tartarus, and Gaia. Given the many other deities, giants, titans and monsters, Echidna really wasn't the highest up there on the nightmare scale.

Gaia. It had been one year since she nearly destroyed everything. One year since we climbed out of Tartarus, one year since the Battle of Mount Olympus, one year since Leo died.

One long, strange year of peace and quiet, almost as if the fates were apologizing for everything that had happened to us. Just giving us a chance to collect ourselves, finish highschool, graduate, build a relationship. One year that I would not trade away for anything. We had one last big journey for the year, a trip down ol' memory lane. Right along our path that we took to Los Angeles, to the Underworld. The adventure to find the master bolt and save all of civilization from World War 3. Afterwards, we would end the trip by making our way up to San Francisco, before making our way to New Rome University and our new apartment. Just the two of us.

Not for a lack of effort on our end, we tried our damndest to get Grover to come with us, at least for part of our trip. But apparently he was undercover at some year round school with a new demigod. Can't really blame him though, doing his job and all. Saved my life, saved Annabeth's. Saved Thalia's too, just took a little while longer. I just wish he could have been here.

"Hey Percy, is that a rest stop on the right?" Annabeth said, pointing towards a truck stop that poked out of the endless fields like a rocky schist demon. It also looked like it had a bathroom.

"Yes it is, and I am going to be right back."

After a few minutes, I came back to the car to see Annabeth in the driver's seat, window open, looking at me with a pair of sunglasses pulled down. Her stormy grey eyes told me that she was at least a little concerned for me at the moment. I walked towards her and paused, taking a moment to appreciate the beautiful woman leaning a bit out of the car window. She looked absolutely stunning, with her old Yankees cap covering some of her blonde curls, and the remainder of them cascading down just past her shoulders.

"Listen seaweed brain." She sternly said, "You clearly need some rest right now. So hop back into the passenger's seat, and we'll be in Denver for dinner.

Truth be told, I wasn't in much of a condition to argue, or talk much at all. I sighed, opened the passenger's side door, and collapsed down into the seat. I tried my best to keep my eyes open as we drove away from the truckstop, making our way back onto the mostly empty highway.

I felt a quick soft kiss touch the side of my cheek, as a nimble hand massaged the back of my neck. I felt the tension that had bound my shoulders bleed away in an instant, my shoulders dropping down as Annabeth's fingers deftly pressed away the pressure.  
"Seaweed brain, I'm on the road so I can't do this for much longer. Do me a favor and get some shut eye, will you?"

I was happy to oblige, hearing only Annabeth's sweet voice as I quickly fell asleep.

"I love you Percy."

A short while later I was suddenly awoken by the sound of shouting. Not monster induced shrieks of terror, gods know I've heard that more times than I would ever care to, but the sounds of a frustrated 18 year old driver, currently wondering "Why the FUCK are you going 55 in the fast lane?", to quote Annabeth.

I blinked my eyes open, revealing that the white Subaru in front of us has decided to crawl the rest of the way to Denver. I turned my head, seeing a frustrated Annabeth glaring towards the car ahead of us, probably praying to Athena, asking her mother to give the people ahead of us enough of a fraction of a brain to figure out how a gas pedal works. In the distance, I saw the mountains looming on the horizon, and beneath them a lone city on a flat plain. Denver, and with it, dinner.

We pulled up to an old fashioned diner, right outside downtown. Something felt off. Something I couldn't place. I glanced in Annabeth's direction, and when I saw her eyes I could tell she felt the same way. Her stormy gray eyes were on high alert, wide and carefully scanning the parking lot for anything insidious. She saw it in me too, sending a curt nod in my direction before she resumed surveillance. Other than a 7-11, there was nothing here likely to kill us. Nothing strange, nothing out of the ordinary. A couple walking down the street to their car, a family walking out of the diner, a couple of people just making their way through the town. I spoke quietly, barely above a whisper; "I don't see anything. You?"

"Nothing." She replied, "I don't sense any mist being manipulated here either."

Cautiously, I opened the car door and stepped out onto the asphalt, my right hand in my pocket gripping riptide should I need to defend myself. Annabeth was up and out, and together we made our way to the diner entrance, hearing the soft ring of a bell as we entered the chrome diner.

Looking around inside, this place was busy. Not completely stuffed, there were a few empty tables. Most importantly, there weren't any monsters lurking about here either, well unrestrained ones at least. The ones that were present seemed to be restrained in tall chairs, bringing them up to table level. Toddlers, one of the most nightmarish of all monsters.

That was the point I realized Annabeth was talking with the hostess, who was picking up menus to take us to our table.

"Right this way please." The hostess smiled, turned and led us to a corner booth, seats red with a nice 80s aesthetic. The checkerboard floor was slightly dirty, probably a result of rush hour dinner.

Annabeth and I both thanked the hostess, who assured us our waitress will be with us in a moment. We settled in, taking a moment together. After a second or two of silence, Annabeth opened a menu and began to look at our options. While she was visibly calm, I could tell she was still a little on edge. The feeling hadn't quite gone away, it was still here. A constant touch on the nerve, like seeing distant storm clouds that you can't quite tell if they will hit you or not.

"What are you going to get, Percy?", Annabeth asked.

"A burger."

"Percy?"

"Yes Annabeth?"

"You haven't opened the menu."

She was right, of course. I was still busy trying to figure out what the Hades was wrong with this place. Maybe just bad memories, from the last time we were here. Probably. I took a deep breath, opened the menu and saw a burger listed.

"See right here," I said, turning the menu to show Annabeth. "A burger, and I'm going to get it."

That earned me a little glare from Annabeth, followed by a soft chuckle. Her lips curled into a small smile, a grin that one would miss from far away. As I saw the petite waitress come towards us, I checked the drinks section quickly. _Good, _I thought. _It looks like they serve Coke products here_.

I looked up at her, she brought out her pen and put it on her notepad. What surprised me was the deep booming masculine voice that asked us; "How's it going, lovebirds?"


End file.
